Skip to main content

Hitting a Milestone


As 2022 ended, I had plans. Nothing extravagant, but perhaps a couple of adventures and a fall conference to prepare for and attend. But I quickly learned that God had other plans, and I’d rather be in His plans than anywhere else.

I’ve not publicly shared this story for family reasons, but with this week’s milestone, the roughest part is over so I’m now able to go public and offer my support, encouragement, and prayers for anyone else on a similar trek.

This new journey began 9 months ago. Armed with the full armor of God, a healthy dose of faith and hope, and surrounding myself with a small army of MIGHTY Prayer Warriors, I set out to do battle.

The first week of February this year, I performed the monthly shower breast exam like I’ve done since … forever, I think. As usual, nothing out of the ordinary, but a few days later, on February 10th, when I was changing clothes, I glanced in the mirror and noticed a golf-ball sized knot at the top of my left breast. It felt squishy – like the rest of me – but since cancer runs in our family, I took immediate action.

During the rest of February, I went through physical exams, mammograms, ultrasounds, and biopsies which revealed two masses, not just one. On February 24, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, grade 3, stage 1, HER2+. Translated, that means I had an aggressive, fast-growing form of breast cancer in a very early stage. The original lump was cancer, the second lump was benign.

In late March, they performed a lumpectomy and lymph node biopsy, removing the cancerous tumor and lots of tissue around it, which thankfully revealed no more cancer cells – the cancer was contained within the single tumor and had not yet spread. During surgery, they also installed a Medi-port where the chemo and immunotherapy drugs are administered.

As a random side trip, I broke a tooth the week after surgery, so mid-April, I had oral surgery to remove it, and then spent a few weeks healing from both surgeries before they scheduled the cancer treatments.

In mid-May, I began the first of six chemotherapy treatments, administered every three weeks. After each treatment, I returned for seven weekdays of shots. Then, once that regimen was completed, I began 21 days of radiation on October 9 and this week, the milestone: I finished radiation.

I’ll still receive immunotherapy treatments through May via the Medi-port, but the drug is not as harsh as the chemo drugs or radiation, so the hardest part is over.

My heart overflows with gratitude for my family, friends, and the mighty Prayer Warriors who supported and encouraged us and who were so faithful in their prayers for us. My daughter-in-law Jess helped navigate the overload of information and schedules when there was hardly time to breathe, and was by my side for several doc visits and treatments.

All the doctors, nurses, and pros have told me how well I’ve done, but I can’t take any of the credit. I’m a big, rebellious wimp when it comes to all things medical. But GOD never left me. He carried me through all of this without one ounce of fear – seriously. He provided for my every need every step of the way – seriously. He gave me strength. He calmed my innards as the meds kicked in. He kept my mind sound. (I heard that snicker.) He kept my car and tires in good shape the entire time, even with the crazy commute.

God deserves and gets all the credit. I feel like a walking miracle and I’m grateful, awed, and humbled because of all HE did for me. 

For those who’ve asked, YES, there are books forthcoming. In the first month, I thought one of the books might be a journal, but after my first chemo treatment, I changed formats because there are already so many journals and memoirs. (Writing is a tremendous tool for processing difficult situations.) I knew I wanted this book to be different, so I changed my focus and format to better serve readers and I’m very excited about offering this resource. I’ll provide more details in the coming weeks, but for now, I’m back to work for a couple of weeks, then I’ll take a much-needed month-long break to breathe and to spend time with family. 

We'll see what the Lord has planned for next year. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Photo Shoot for a Cause

Last month, Advent Health honored me by asking if I would be one of their "faces" during their "Pink Porch" campaign for Breast Awareness Month. They arranged for a photo shoot and an interview, and said I could invite anyone I wanted to be in the photos with me.  Without hesitation, I suggested Jess Bolton, my daughter-in-law, and Felicia Trawick, my nurse navigator-turned-friend. These two were with me every day of my cancer journey, either in person or by phone. God knew what I needed during that time because Jess and Felicia kept me laughing, and we're still at it, as you can tell from the photos below. The lovely and patient photographer, Emily Long, had us talk to each other, and to look at each other, and we just got silly. (Please note: these photos are the only time you'll see me NOT talking with my hands! Such a surprise to all of us!) It was a windy but fun day, and Zach, my son and Jess's husband, surprised and blessed me by coming, too.  Dur

Meet Warrior Elias

Years ago, before we hit the road, we had some incredible neighbors that we’ve kept up with over the years. In 2022, their youngest son Elias was diagnosed with cancer. I’ve asked mom Kelsey to share their story with us. First, introduce us to your family: Elias, center front; then l-r: big brother Ayden, parents Ryan and Kelsey I am Kelsey and Ryan is my handsome hubby! We have 5 kids together and 4 grandboys! Elias is 8 and Ayden is 11. Their older sisters all live on their own. Emily is 26 and has Eli, Evan, Easton, and Everett. Cara is 25, and Kourtney is 22. How old was Elias when he received the cancer diagnosis? What kind of cancer did he have? Elias was in kindergarten and had just turned 6 when he was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in January of 2022. We started noticing little signs at first, like pale skin, bruising more than normal and no weight gain. He would complain of leg pain frequently, and then stomach pain quite often. He was playing rec league

Our Home Health Care Experience

Blogging got away from me this summer. At the end of July, I got sick with what the doc eventually said was either the flu or covid, but it was too late to test by that time. Then Tim got sick and ended up in the hospital for a week with covid and double pneumonia. He’s home now and recovering well - I’m grateful and he’s happy to be home again. I decided to share our experience with home health care. Since all of this was new to us, I don’t know if our experience is the norm, but thought I’d share in case it’s all new to someone else. The hospital filled up while Tim was there, so once they got him on his feet without oxygen, they sent us home because they needed the bed. But they ordered Home Health Care, saying he needed physical therapy, and that’s what we expected. Tim left the hospital on the 19th. To simply things, I’ll list the dates and duties of Home Health below (we also had 3 doc appts scattered in the middle of all these dates, and perhaps only introverts and hermits like